Page 35 of Wooing the Wiccan
That seems to intrigue him, and I can actually see the moment he restrains his curiosity. “What does all this have to do with thedemonsI saw tonight? And the werewolves?”
“Shifters,” I correct. “The background is important because it shows that demons cannot possibly be what you were taught they were. Modern humanity and religions have taken names and words and twisted them to mean things they don’t.”
He gives a short, bitter laugh. “Okay, that fits with my experience.”
The need to hug him rises, but I doubt he’d welcome it. “Demon is one such word,” I continue. “Demons aren’t evil, or whatever it is that’s said. They’re a species just as native to this planet as humans, and most of them live similar lives. The horns, along with a denser muscle mass, allow them to travel by teleportation.”
Jared’s jaw drops. “Now you’re fucking with me.”
I shake my head. “No. You draw on the life force to do magic. Demons can’t do that, but they have an innate magic of their own that expresses itself via teleportation.” Suddenly, an idea comes to me. A way to maybe put him more at ease. “Would you like a demonstration?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jared
His question fillsme with a combination of curiosity and wariness. “What does that mean?” My eyes rise to the top of his head to double-check. “You don’t have horns. Are you saying you’re a demon?”
“No, I’m not a demon. There’s someone I know—someone who might be better at answering your questions than me—whose boyfriend is a demon. I could call him, see if they’ll come over.” He pauses. “Gideon—the demon—is rather… taciturn, but he’s a good man. Sam is a shifter, but for most of his life he thought he was human. It was a surprise for him to learn about other species.”
Wait… “How did he think he was human if he’s a shifter? Did another shifter bite him and force him to transform?” I may never leave my house again. Do silver bullets actually work on shifters? Just in case one decides to make me one of them.
Raðulfr rubs his brow. “I’m doing this all wrong. Let me tell you about each of the species that are native to Earth, and then you can decide if you want to meet Sam and Gideon.”
It’s unlikely, but I nod.
“I’ve told you about demons. You also saw a shifter tonight. There are two kinds, canid—that’s what you saw—and felid.”
I squint, applying my very sketchy knowledge of Latin. “Dog and cat?”
“Basically. I’m not sure how much attention you were paying to what the canid looked like?—”
“Big.”
Raðulfr nods. “Yes. Canid shifters are much larger than the canines you’re used to seeing. They’re also bigger in their biped forms. They’re a completely different species from canines and humans—not a mix or a transformation from one to the other. They have their own evolutionary path. So do felids. They might share traits with some big cat species, the same as they share some with humans, but ultimately, they are neither. All those movies where a werewolf bites a human and the human becomes a werewolf are just fiction.”
That’s a relief. “So these shifters just walk around as humans, and then sometimes they change into giant dogs and cats?”
“They live their lives just like everyone else.” A tiny smile tugs one corner of his mouth. “The canids are generally very enthusiastic. They throw the best parties, and if one befriends you, it’s generally forever.”
Okay, that actually sounds kind of nice. I take a little breath. “So why the secrecy? If they’re not evil and don’t force people to become like them, why are they hiding?”
“I’m getting to that,” he promises. “Quickly, let me tell you about the other species.”
My brows shoot up. “There’s more?”
Raðulfr nods. “The pregame show tonight? Remember how you said if you couldn’t see for yourself that it wasn’t magic, you would have thought it was?”
And he got all weird about it. “Yeah.”
“It was sorcery. Sorcerers are another species, very similar to humans, but where humans use magic by drawing from the life force, sorcerers have their own inner well of power to draw from,and they weave the threads of that power into spells, rather than casting them.”
“Which is why I couldn’t see it,” I realize, wondering what other differences there are between the magic I do and what sorcerers… weave.
“The remaining two species native to Earth are vampires and incubi,” Raðulfr says, adding quickly, “Remember that modern language has twisted the meanings of those words.”
“So vampires don’t suck blood, and incubi don’t feed off sex?”
He winces. “They do, but neither needs to kill to do so. And just like shifters, they’re completely separate species, so there’s no changing humans into vampires.”
